Combining of chaotic differential evolution and quadratic programming for economic dispatch optimization with valve-point effect

Evolutionary algorithms are heuristic methods that have yielded promising results for solving nonlinear, nondifferentiable, and multi-modal optimization problems in the power systems area. The differential evolution (DE) algorithm is an evolutionary algorithm that uses a rather greedy and less stochastic approach to problem solving than do classical evolutionary algorithms, such as genetic algorithms, evolutionary programming, and evolution strategies. DE also incorporates an efficient way of self-adapting mutation using small populations. The potentialities of DE are its simple structure, easy use, convergence property, quality of solution, and robustness. This paper proposes a new approach for solving economic load dispatch problems with valve-point effect. The proposed method combines the DE algorithm with the generator of chaos sequences and sequential quadratic programming (SQP) technique to optimize the performance of economic dispatch problems. The DE with chaos sequences is the global optimizer, and the SQP is used to fine-tune the DE run in a sequential manner. The combined methodology and its variants are validated for two test systems consisting of 13 and 40 thermal units whose incremental fuel cost function takes into account the valve-point loading effects. The proposed combined method outperforms other state-of-the-art algorithms in solving load dispatch problems with the valve-point effect.